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Animal Hoarding

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It’s hard not to be amazed by the resilience of animals. Every day, we meet dogs and cats who have been rescued from terrible situations—abandonment, hoarding, cruelty and even fighting—but more often than not they welcome us with wagging tails and open hearts. When we met Seymour, a 70-lb. Catahoula Leopard mix, we knew he was one of those special animals. Rescued from the home of a hoarder, this gentle giant consistently amazed us with his kind and loving demeanor. Here is his Happy Tail.

Lisa Kisiel, a case worker for the ASPCA’s Cruelty Intervention Advocacy (CIA) program, first saw the two tiny kittens whose eyes were sealed shut. Just days old, they lay with their mother and three siblings atop a ragged cardboard box and empty bags of Meow Mix, confined to a filthy closet with another nursing feline and her brood of five.

At the ASPCA, it’s not uncommon for our staff members to make special connections with animals under our care. That’s exactly what happened when Cheryl Suydam, a Rehabilitation Counselor at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center, met Tallulah.

Meet Waffle. This charming Chihuahua spends her days playing with toys, snuggling into warm blankets, and running around with fellow dogs. But that wasn’t always the case. Waffle first came to the ASPCA as one of a hundred dogs rescued from an animal hoarder. Her life at that point had been defined by loneliness and neglect, and the traumatic experience left her with an extreme distrust of humans.

By the time Mojave was 5 years old, he had seen more than most cats will in a lifetime. Born into the home of a cat hoarder, the tabby spent his early years competing for basic necessities like food, love and attention. To make matters worse, he was suffering from a rare birth defect called eyelid agenesis, in which the eyelids do not form properly. Because of this condition, Mojave’s eyes were in a constant state of irritation from dust, eyelashes and even hair. Two other conditions called entropion and distichiasis also contributed to the sweet cat’s ocular distress.

Earlier this year, the ASPCA removed scores of cats from a small apartment in the Bronx. We’ve been caring for and getting to know these sweet kitties ever since, and now they’re finally ready to find loving homes!

If you’re looking to add a feline to your furry family, and you can get to Brooklyn on Sunday, August 4, then here’s where you come in: The ASPCA is thrilled to be hosting our Summer Lovin’ adoption event to find these guys the families they deserve.

Animal hoarding is a complex and intricate issue with far-reaching effects that encompass mental health, animal welfare and public safety concerns. It has been estimated that there are 900 to 2,000 new cases every year in the United States, with a quarter million animals falling victim. Those “collected” range in species from cats and dogs to reptiles, rodents, birds, exotics and even farm animals.